TextilesNC is establishing a statewide model for workforce development to address the demands of North Carolina’s growing textiles industry.
TextilesNC, alongside our educational, economic, and manufacturing partners, have designed working training and development programs to address talent gaps in the industry.
The history of production occupations and massive textile job-loss during the late 1990s and early 2000s caused many North Carolinians to lose faith in the industry. However, the textile manufacturing, science, and technology are still alive and well in North Carolina, and our job seekers’ needs must be addressed and a talent pipeline established to meet manufacturers’ demands.
Increase access to data and information to better define the regional textile economy to better inform the design of educational pathways, addressing the gaps between demand and supply and drawing from assets across the state to support project goals
Leverage partnerships to identify educational resources aimed at building and improving a diverse talent pipeline for textile manufacturing focusing on emerging tools and technologies of the industry, driven in a large part by trends coming out of the manufacturing institutes
Create a sustainable and replicable partnership model to implement a multi-year plan based on program findings to support and advance the NC textile industry
We aim to help deliver a demand-driven workforce for textiles jobs in North Carolina.
A replicable and demand-driven strategy for workforce development with professional training and education pathways for those looking to break into textiles manufacturing and technology.
Our career pathways are designed to create an educated, diverse talent pipeline
Improved coordination between state and local partners will enable TextilesNC to promote a more diverse talent pipeline for textile manufacturing.
Help North Carolina drive innovation in textile manufacturing, technology and science
Improved alignment between technology and talent will help North Carolina’s textiles industry stay ahead of the curve and innovate alongside other leaders in the space.
The project advisory board will include industry, higher education, policy makers, the workforce development system, and private foundation board members. Engaging key partners early on will increase both awareness and investment in the project.
No workforce gap analysis currently exists for the North Carolina textile industry. The gap analysis will also be forward-thinking, involving an assessment of technology adoption and readiness, as an indicator for future workforce needs as companies progress in digital transformation.
Completing an asset mapping process will facilitate enhanced engagement statewide across both two and four-year colleges, in addition to workforce training systems. This will result in comprehensive education and career pathway development, building seamless transitions for job seekers and a more highly skilled talent pipeline.
Continuous stakeholder input is crucial to shape emerging priorities. Without this input, there will not be a successful implementation of local, regional, and statewide strategies to address workforce gaps and education/training assets needed to fill those gaps.
Due to the negative perceptions about manufacturing and textile career pathways, we will design of a comprehensive marketing campaign that addresses these perceptions head on with specific focus on reaching underrepresented populations.
This final report will summarize the data collected during the the project, including the gap analysis, asset mapping, input from the advisory board and statewide taskforce, program evaluation, and a strategic action plan developed by the advisory board to outlining next steps. The report will be shared publicly and widely statewide with project leadership; components of the report and project may also be shared with the National Institutes of Standards and Technology (NIST), Industry Associations, MEPs, and AFFOA’s national ecosystem.